Local clergy speak out on Methodist ban on same sex marriages

This is the message on a digital sign Wednesday outside the First United Methodist Church at 12 N. Diamond St. in Mansfield.(Photo: Submitted photo)

MANSFIELD - Tuesday's vote by the United Methodist Church against same-sex marriages really hit home with the Rev. Samara Jenkins, pastor of First United Methodist Church in Crestline.

"No matter what, God is still on the throne," said Jenkins, who has six children, three of whom are gay.

"We will continue to strive to be a light to the LGBT community," she said.

"I have to keep things in perspective and know that my church loves my kids and we have an LGBT support group which meets on Sundays and they are church members. I want to focus on what can be done as opposed to what can't be," she said.

“We will continue to strive to be a light to the LGBT community. I have to keep things in perspective and know that my church loves my kids and we have an LGBT support group which meets on Sundays and they are church members.”

the Rev. Samara Jenkins, pastor of First United Methodist Church in Crestline, who has three gay children

Jenkins, who came to the church at 202 N. Thoman St. from Ashtabula in July to serve as its pastor, said it has been a very stressful week.

"My oldest is 27 and married to his husband and I have children ages 25, 23, 19-year-old twins and a 9-year-old," she said Wednesday.

Two foreign exchange students live at her house too, one from Germany and one from Italy.

The United Methodist Church, America’s second-largest Protestant denomination, faces a likely surge in defections and acts of defiance after delegates at a crucial conference Tuesday in St. Louis rejected a move to ease the faith’s ban on same-sex marriage and ordination of LGBT clergy.

Some supporters of greater LGBT inclusion were in tears, while others vented their anger after delegates, on a 449-374 vote, defeated a proposal that would have let regional and local church bodies decide for themselves on gay-friendly policies.

“Devastation,” was how former Methodist pastor Rebecca Wilson of Detroit described her feelings. “As someone who left because I’m gay, I’m waiting for the church I love to stop bringing more hate,” according to an Associated Press article.

Delegates then took up a competing measure, known as the Traditional Plan, that would tighten enforcement of the LGBT bans and encourage Methodists who oppose those policies to leave the church. It won majority support in a preliminary vote on Monday, the AP reported.

The Traditional Plan’s success was because of an alliance of conservatives from the U.S. and overseas. About 43 percent of the delegates are from abroad, mostly from Africa, and overwhelmingly support the LGBT bans.

If the bans were eased, “the church in Africa would cease to exist,” said the Rev. Jerry Kulah of Liberia. “We can’t do anything but to support the Traditional Plan – it is the biblical plan.”

The deep split within the church was evident in several fiery speeches opposing the Traditional Plan.

“If we bring this virus into our church, it will bring illness to us all,” said the Rev. Thomas Berlin of Herndon, Virginia. He predicted many Methodist churchgoers and some regional bodies would leave the church, while others would “stay and fight,” performing same-sex weddings even if it meant punishment, according to an AP news article.

Many supporters of the more liberal plan stood in support as Berlin spoke. Some wore rainbow-motif garments or sat behind rainbow banners.

Locally, De Wayne Smith, PhD., pastor of the Main Street United Methodist Church at 230 S. Main St., said he is a traditionalist.

"Even though we voted to go with a Traditional Plan, I pray as a church we can move forward working with each other in Christian love," Smith said. "I do believe the church is stronger together serving God's mission. I pray that healing can begin and we can truly work together. There will always be diverse groups within the church and they have gifts that we can use.

"Being a traditionalist I believe what the Bible says. I believe that it's God's intention — one man, one woman. I truly believe God didn't make Adam and Steven. He made Adam and Eve to multiply. He calls us to multiply," Smith said.

Smith said the debate within the United Methodist Church is not over.

"This is not the final word because it's going to go before our judicial council who will give us a final decree," he said.

The Rev. Becky Weamer, pastor of Mansfield First United Methodist Church, 12 N. Diamond St., said the United Methodist church is a global church with 12 million members — over 800 of whom are elected to General Conference, which is the global decision-making body for the church.

"One thing I have always loved about our church is that liberals and conservatives from all over the world are part of our church, united by our love for Jesus. It's beautiful, but also difficult to know how to live together, and how we can best fulfill our mission as a church in our different contexts. What the United Methodist Church was addressing at this special-called session of General Conference is the fact that faithful, prayerful, Jesus-loving, Bible-reading United Methodists read the same Bible, but interpret what the Bible says about human sexuality differently.

"There are biblical scholars who say the Bible clearly condemns homosexuality, while there are other biblical scholars who say that the Bible never condemns committed homosexual relationships, especially if you take historical context and translation into consideration," Weamer said.

"The traditionalist plan was approved by General Conference, but the Judicial Council now has to rule on the constitutionality of some parts of the plan. There is a possibility that things could change at the next General Conference in 2020, but there still will likely be people who choose to leave the church," Weamer said.

Many United Methodists are celebrating General Conference's decision, and many are grieving, she said.

"It saddens me that so many LGBTQIA+ people have been hurt by the church. Moving forward I will keep doing my best to pastor to people and love people on both sides of the divide, and I will keep preaching the Gospel as the Spirit leads me," she said.

"I told my congregation recently that whatever happens at General Conference, I know that the church of God is called to bring hope and healing to a broken and hurting world — and I know that the steadfast love of God knows no boundaries — 1 John 4:8 says 'God is love.'

"Jesus said his greatest command is to 'love God with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your mind' — and the second greatest, 'To love your neighbor as yourself' (Matthew 22:36-40). This is a time for the local church to come together and live out Christ's love in community, despite our differences — and it is a time for us to keep reaching out to people who have been hurt by the church," Weamer said

"And so, here at First UMC of Mansfield we will keep praying, keep feeding our downtown neighbors, keep growing in our faith, and keep loving God and our neighbors as we live out the mission of the United Methodist Church: to make and mature disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world," she added.